Trust is a Pair of Emeralds
by SonicGurl98
Summary: When Sonic asks Rouge about Shadow's whereabouts, Rouge decides to start a game with the blue blur that she was meant to win all along. What the bat girl wasn't betting on was that she would start to like 'big blue.' She knew there was something hidden behind those emerald eyes, and she was just the treasure hunter to find it... Sonouge, implied Sonadow and Shadouge
1. Chapter 1

With nothing but the sound of wind filling her ears, Rouge flew through the busy Westopolis night sky. She had quietly swiped a necklace or three earlier that day, but managed to keep out of trouble for it. "It's just jewelry," Rouge justified it, "the people who make these things are pretty well off." She didn't much care, but, as an agent of the U.S. Government, she felt like she must have some sort of 'off-record explanation' to give to her superiors if the news ever broke.

Then, penetrating the sound of wind in her ears, came the pitter-patter of sneakers running at supersonic speeds. Looking down, she saw a blue blur keeping up with her. "Oh, big blue, don't spoil my fun now..." Rouge said to herself, before flying faster and making an effort to lose the heroic hedgehog – no doubt arriving to put a stop to her thievery like the do-gooder he always was. She took as many turns and tried to stay out of sight of the hedgehog for as long as she could, but her cunning was no match for Sonic's speed this time around.

Landing gracefully on a rooftop, she was met with two emerald eyes shortly after Sonic had run up the building. "Hey, Rouge," Sonic smiled. Rouge privately wondered if the speedster had a single judgmental gaze in him, but kept it to herself, listening on to what she presumed would be a long-winded speech about how stealing is 'wrong' and ' _gee why can't you just think about those poor rich people for once.'_ To her surprise, Sonic instead asked, "Have you seen Shadow around, lately?"

Eyes widened, Rouge was almost taken aback by the hedgehog ignoring the felony she had committed, so sure that he would take ultimate offense to it. "Why do you ask, handsome?" A mischievous look appeared in her gaze as a smirk grew on her lips, before she slyly teased, "You aren't hoping to get some kisses in with our friend, are you?"

Not batting an eye, Sonic teased back, "What if I _am?_ " Eliciting a chuckle from the bat before him, which caught on to the hedgehog as well. "I know you're closer to him than I am," admitted Sonic, as his chuckles died down, giving the bat pause, "I just wanted to know where I might find him. I get the feeling he could use having some more friends around, and if he'd like me to be part of that I'd love to... y'know, be there for him..." He knew it sounded corny, as did most of what he had to say, but he only had his honesty to give. "That's all, I guess..."

As the hedgehog spoke, Rouge thought of the two hedgehogs' friendship—how perhaps it would do the dark hedgehog good to have someone else around not solely interested in getting something out of him. In truth, she had lost track of him over the past week, expecting to see him again in the next recon mission G.U.N. had scheduled for them as Team Dark... _but,_ Rouge thought, _that didn't mean she couldn't have her fun with Sonic in the meantime._ "Okay, big blue, I'll tell you," she told the hero, causing that goofy grin of his to appear on his face, but, before he could thank her, she added, "but I'll need you to prove I can trust you, _first._ "

This, to Sonic, was very amusing. "Oh, so _you're_ having trouble trusting _me,_ huh?" chuckled Sonic, a look that almost betrayed his unassuming demeanor flashing in his eyes. The bat knew he was right not to trust her, as she was deliberately deceiving him at that very moment, but she couldn't resist acting ' _harmed'_ by the hedgehog's apparent judgment on her—giving him a little pout, though it did little to change the hedgehog's mind. Crossing his arms, Sonic asked, "How do I know you aren't lying and just playing games with me?"

Giving the question a moment of thought, Rouge simply smiled back at the hedgehog and answered, "You don't." With a wink, she walked away from the hero, letting him believe she was going to leave it up to him to decide, while knowing full well she was playing him just as he suspected. Turning back around to face him after a handful of steps away, she gave him an expectant look, awaiting his response.

Uncharacteristically slowly, a smile grew on the hedgehog's face – a smile so bright and warm, it could melt the coldest ice cap. "Okay, I'll play," responded the hero, "how can I earn your trust, Rouge?"

It was funny, to the bat, how much the sapphire hedgehog smiled. Was there really so much for him to smile about, all the time, she wondered? She would soon find out, she supposed, before telling the hedgehog, "First, I want you to make some time tomorrow to spend with me. We hardly get the chance to, in between all the adventures—and it'd be easier to trust you if I knew you better, don't you think?"

Accepting her logic with a nod, Sonic replied, "Yeah, I guess so." Looking back at the late night sky, he told the bat, "So, 'guess I'll see you tomorrow, then." She could see the stars reflected in his eyes – eyes that greatly resembled the beauty of a precious emerald gem, which she always had a particular fondness for, among her other fascinations with all sorts of shiny things.

"Now hold on a minute, big blue," Rouge called the hedgehog's attention, for just one more last moment, "this is going to take a lot of patience, and you'll have to be seen with me—a thief—quite a lot. Are you _sure_ you're going to be okay with that, _emerald eyes?_ "

With one last nigh-insufferable smirk of his, Sonic said, "What, you think I'm gonna get cold feet 'cause people might _say things_ about me hangin' out with a lady like you?" Walking towards her until they were barely a foot away from one another, Rouge saw something new in Sonic's emerald gaze as he simply stated, "We hardly know each other, Rouge, let's not get too caught up in assumptions before we start. In point of fact, as much as it may surprise you, I really _don't_ care about what people think of me—even if it means they start thinking I'm some kind of bad guy. I wouldn't make it too far as a hero if I worried about that, don't you think?" With that, he began to step away, giving her a thumbs-up before running off of the rooftop and into the night.

Maybe she was surprised. Maybe she was in for a good stretch of surprises until the next time G.U.N. called on Team Dark. Rouge could only smile as she took flight once more, flying off to her hideaway to put away the recently-stolen jewelry in her possession, meaning to swap it out with some shiny things she had stolen in the month before. She allowed herself to laugh a little, imagining him wandering aimlessly, searching for her the following day. "What a fool..." she thought, "he forgot to ask for my number."

She was in for an interesting time, she knew. She could count on Sonic to give her that much.


	2. Chapter 2

Footsteps, wind, talking – these were things Rouge had learned to tune out when she'd go to sleep, discreetly hanging from a tree at the edge of a park. Now, when she would hear the sound of two sneakers speeding around over and over, near and far, _that's_ what would stir her awake. She groggily unwrapped herself from her wing-blankets and opened her eyes, peaking through the leaves of the tree she had slept in to see a blue streak speed through what must have been all of Westopolis.

Letting out a sigh, she could only guess that he had spent all morning searching for her. " _I suppose I don't have to worry about him flaking out on me,_ " she chuckled to herself, feeling a little amused but also bothered. Certainly, she had prepared to spend a day or three stringing him along and watching his cutesy hero act fall apart, but her sleep was not something she wished to sacrifice over one blue hedgehog and the mind games she would play on him. Another sigh escaped her lips. " _I better do something about him..._ " she decided.

Without another moment spared for the hedgehog's apparent search for the bat, she flew out of her tree, while still in her sleepwear, and landed where the hedgehog was speeding toward next—positioning herself in his immediate vision.

Promptly, Sonic screeched to a halt. "Oh! Hey, Rouge! I didn't expect to see you up so early," he said, puzzling her, "I was actually just about to finish an errand or two here before we got started, could ya give me a minute or two?" This was a little less insufferable to Rouge than if he was actually waking her up by speeding everywhere looking for her, but she wouldn't let him off the hook so easily—instead, plotting to make today a little less pleasant for him.

Only a few seconds later did Sonic seem to notice the circles under her eyes, as his face crumbled in guilt. "... I woke you up, didn't I?" asked Sonic, shamefully. Wearing nothing but a humorless, contempt-filled smile on her naked face, Rouge nodded. "Awwh geesh, I'm sorry about that. I swear, I'll make it up to you – we can do whatever you want for the rest of our day, okay?"

"That's okay, Sonic," Rouge assured the guilt-ridden hedgehog, not wanting to spend any more time thinking about the whole thing. Stifling a yawn, she added, "just meet me back here – you'll see me when I'm ready." That seemed to do the trick, as he proceeded to nod, made a peace sign with his index and middle fingers, and then zoomed off to take care of whatever errands he had to get to before spending time with her. It made her feel weird in her stomach, to imagine him devoting all that time simply to helping others, so she decided not to linger for too long before their time together.

Sneakily as she could muster for such an early morning, she flew back to her tree when she was sure no one was looking – reaching the highest branch that was connected to the hollowed-out hole, where she kept her beauty products. She grabbed her mirror, and proceeded to apply a little less than she usually did—having lost some rest and not wanting to spend the energy to do her entire routine for now. If the hedgehog had a problem, her game would merely end sooner than expected, and she would move on to the next distraction.

After applying the makeup, she moved on to picking out her outfit. Strangely, Sonic hadn't made any remark about her sleepwear when she appeared before him in it, though she was certain any other guy would _die_ to see her in such an exposed state – the hedgehog's eyes never strayed from her eyes. Frankly, it was almost _insulting,_ so she made a point to pick out something _a little_ flashy, while not straying too far from the casual wear she would be expected to wear for the casual outing. It ended up being an eye-catching all-black get-up, deceptively plain on the surface but subtly captivating.

Proud enough of what she had done with her appearance, she descended back down to the branch she had previously hung from, peaked out and saw the hedgehog had finished his errands and was now waiting around for her. She smirked, mischievously, as inspiration for the first game she would play on the hedgehog struck her. She could have flown out right then to meet him, but instead she decided to give him a little while longer to wait for her. She had noticed the way he would incessantly tap his foot in impatience before, and she relished in seeing him suffer if only in this seemingly-minor way.

Unsurprisingly, he did squirm a bit from the delay. His ear twitched after a minute or two, and the sound of his sneaker tapping on the concrete of the sidewalk was quite the music to Rouge's ears. When at last the sun had risen up enough to where it didn't have that early-morning shine that made it so hard to see for the bat, she decided she'd had enough fun with that. After preparing her wings for her 'flight,' she emerged once more from her tree—her mood lightened slightly by the display—and glided down to meet up with the hedgehog.

His back was turned when she flew in, eliciting her to poke the hedgehog's shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, you haven't forgotten about our deal, have you~?" Rouge asked, as though she had been waiting for him _._

Turning quickly to face her, Sonic's trademark smile grew once more as he exclaimed, "Oh, hey again! Not at all!" Not even a sign of resentment for her taking so long, she noticed. "Sorry I kept you for a minute," Sonic apologized, "'you ready to start our day?" _He sure has a way of putting it casually,_ Rouge thought to herself, noting that most people she had suggested anything remotely similar to had made a big deal out of it and piled on a bunch of expectations and a label to go with it – a _'date_.' This felt like a nice change of pace.

Before long, she nodded and motioned for the hedgehog to lead the way, asking, "So, what do you have in mind, big blue?"

In contrast to the day before, Sonic's focus had shifted. He had previously come to her for Shadow's whereabouts, but today his mind was squarely on the bat, as he quickly replied, "I had a few ideas, actually." _Intriguing,_ Rouge thought, listening on to what Sonic had come up with as they walked the streets of Westopolis. "We could go out some place to eat, we could go on a tour of the museum in town, or we could watch a movie," the emerald-eyed hedgehog suggested, "what sounds good to you?"

She caught herself gazing into those emerald eyes once more. She knew it would be hard to mess with him when she looked through the sparkling windows into the hedgehog's soul, that it would be a little less fun to watch the delight in his gaze fade through the day... but only a little. Lifting her left index finger, she placed it on the tip of her right index finger, starting, "I'm not in the mood to smell chili dog breath," counting the second with her middle finger, she continued, "really, me going on a tour of a place full of rare one-of-a-kind items? That sounds like a treat, to me, but I'm not sure _you_ wouldn't mind it," counting off the third with her ring finger, she finished, "and _what_ movie could _possibly_ be showing that we would _both_ want to watch?"

A quick thought or two speeding through his mind, Sonic offered, "Hey, you might be surprised what I'm into!" The bat remained skeptical, but the hedgehog was determined, asking, "C'mon, what kind of movies do you like to watch?"

" _What would be the last thing Sonic would want to watch?"_ Rouge thought, though it would be difficult to come up with one, as she did indeed not know much about the hedgehog. She relied on what she knew and had seen of the hedgehog, then stated, "I like to watch... Romance movies." She watched his gaze, waiting to see his heart sink in real-time, only to find him keeping that irritatingly-adorable look on his face. "How does that sound to you, precious?" Rouge asked, with a curious smirk.

Plainly, Sonic answered, "I like 'em okay." He continued to walk alongside her, not even stopping dead in his tracks in shock, which caught Rouge a little off-guard. "We can definitely go see one of those, if that sounds cool to you," he said, intriguing the bat further.

Giving it another moment's thought, Rouge decided, "Sure, that sounds like a fun time~" The entertainment she could get out of seeing the hedgehog watch a 'lovey-dovey' flick was greater than anything she could've planned for the evening, so she would allow it. He simply _had_ to be bluffing about liking them, anyway, she reasoned. "Let's save that for later today—and _I_ get to pick," she asserted, making the quills on the hedgehog's head bounce ever so slightly as he nodded. "For now, though..." a devilish grin crept onto the bat's expression, "... I was thinking we could just... go for a _walk._ "

And _there_ went that hedgehog's spirit.

Sure, he tried to hide it, but Rouge couldn't miss the hedgehog's dismay, his joy faltering. "... Huh, okay," Sonic said, continuing to walk with her. The smile was still there—virtually unchanged—but something felt more-hollow to it, or, she wondered, was she just imagining that... "It's a different pace from what I'm used to, I guess, but it ain't the worst," Sonic remarked, before flashing that smirk once more.

Yet another attempt at souring the hedgehog's sunny mood thwarted, Rouge cursed her sorry luck. Usually she was so much better at getting on the nerves of men, but Sonic was proving to be a frustratingly hard 'cookie' to crumble. "Does anything ever get you down, big blue?" Rouge asked, accidentally voicing the thought that had been pestering her as they began to make their way down the sidewalk, in an unexpected show of honesty on her part.

Right then, those emerald eyes blinked into meeting hers. "Not a lot—but when a friend is in trouble, that puts me off," Sonic answered, wholesome enough to make the bat roll her teal eyes. Noticing her eye-roll, the hedgehog chuckled, "Okay, well, I also don't like the word 'slow,' is that any better?" It sounded like a joke, but it was so ridiculous she couldn't help but wonder if it really was true. She let out a soft, subdued giggle.

"Okay, okay," Sonic continued, "I also don't like tears... I guess that's why I help people - I like to see people smile!" Sonic formed a goofy smile of his own after finishing the thought, and it was so cheesy and unabashed that the bat couldn't bring herself to be completely skeptical of the honesty of his words. She made a little smile of her own, which appeared to elicit giggles from the hedgehog.

… Not quite the reaction she thought she would get. "What, is there something wrong with _my_ smile?" remarked Rouge, nearly offended.

It was as though she had asked if he liked _long_ _division,_ she thought, as he replied, "No, no, not at all, not even a little!" The exuberant spiny dude then proceeded to affirm, "Your smile is _so_ cool, you're really good at smiling, I'm a fan... I chuckled because, it was really uh..." Sonic's voice trailed off, faltering just before he could explain why he had chuckled

" _Ah yes,_ " Rouge fiendishly thought to herself, " _weakness._ " Now was her chance, she knew, before pressing the hedgehog, "It was really... what? Come on, Sonic, _bat got your tongue?_ " This was just what the bat had been hoping for, as she watched the hedgehog's 'cool' demeanor crumble with each drop of sweat from his temple.

Even so, the hedgehog's refusal to respond relented quickly enough. "... Because it was really... really... _cute,_ okay?" the blue hedgehog admitted, turning a little red just from saying so. "There. Are you happy now that you've made me use the _C-word?_ " Truth be told, her grin could tell him all he needed to know about her happiness, but she nodded nonetheless. "You're _so_ mean," he chuckled – a pathetic joke, as she could tell he was enjoying the teasing perhaps as much as she was.

So really it turned out fine and he wasn't feeling very upset or embarrassed. " _Damn,_ " she cursed to herself. They had spent minutes having an ordinary conversation and the blue blur's spirit remained utterly... fine. Usually by now another man would have been the slightest bit _grumpy,_ but something about the whole situation—no matter how much she tried to spoil it for him—seemed to put Sonic in a good mood. " _At least I had that walk idea,_ " she attempted to console herself.

"Hey," Sonic said, grabbing her attention once more, "not that I'm not having _the time of my life_ on this walk," Sonic sarcastically started, affirming what a great idea it was for Rouge to suggest it, "but I need to get to the gift shop and pick something up – y'think we could make a stop there?" Rouge gave a nod without giving it much more thought, and they made their way to the store.

When they entered, the bat observed the plainness of it all. She had certainly been in more glamorous stores, but it seemed less out of financial necessity than it was out of lack of taste in design.

 _Truly_ the mark of an evil establishment, Rouge thought to herself.

Nevertheless, she hadn't the slightest clue what Sonic would want from such a dull place, until she caught a jewelry section from the corner of her peripheral vision. Sonic passed it by without a second thought, but Rouge seemed to be magnetically-drawn to it, gliding slowly towards it in awe. They weren't as fancy as some of the jewelry she had taken before, but there was an emerald necklace that was all but literally _begging_ her to liberate it from the stuffy store.

She looked over to where Sonic had gone off to, finding him conversing in the checkout line with a woman while holding what appeared to be a set of stickers. He seemed to be having a good time before, in the blink of Rouge's teal eye, she witnessed the woman slapping Sonic hard across the face. " _Oof._ Tough luck, big blue..." she giggled to herself discreetly, as the hedgehog attempted to pay for the sticker set shortly after as if nothing had happened. Quickly, as usual for the hedgehog, he made his way over to the bat to check on her, leading her to once again bring her focus over to the jewels on display.

"Hey, whatcha lookin' at?" Sonic asked, still feeling the red spot on his cheek that stung from the slap. When Rouge looked back and got her first close-up look at the hedgehog since she witnessed the slap, she gasped in amusement. Sonic sighed, embarrassedly, "I know, I know, I had a fly on my cheek, someone tried to swat it, it's not that big of a deal." It was, in fact, a _very_ big deal for the bat.

Quite skeptically, Rouge smirked, " _Sure,_ it was a _fly,_ " which she could tell got under the hedgehog's skin, as his ear twitched ever so slightly, contradicting that cheesy smirk on his face. Instead of answering the previous question, she posed a question of her own to the hedgehog. "Say, handsome, you wouldn't be able to race me out of here before they could detect that anything was stolen, would you?" Questioned Rouge.

Laughing at the mere idea of him being incapable of performing such a feet, Sonic boasted, " _Oh,_ you've _gotta_ be joking – I could go so fast, no one would even know we left! One micro-second, Sonic and Rouge are _in_ the building, and the next they've _completely vanished!_ That's what it'd make people say, you can bet on that." He confidently winked at her, before promptly adding, "... Uh, but, y'know, I _wouldn't_ because... that'd be stealing."

It elicited a gaze from the bat that was dripping in disbelief, as she then performatively turned her head away from him and pointed her nose upward, her eyes closed while she stated, "I don't believe you _could,_ big blue." She let one eye open curiously, to witness the challenged and determined look on the hedgehog's face. "Unless you'd like to prove me wrong...?" Rouge offered.

The hedgehog only had two words for the bat. "You're on," he said, in a hushed tone. He allowed her to pick the emerald necklace, making sure to stand between her and the cashier's line of sight, before wrapping an arm around her side and zooming them out of the store quicker than the human eye. Not one footstep was heard, not a gust of wind was felt, and not even the slightest hint of a blue blur could be found - it was the perfect crime.

Without making a sound, the two waited to hear sirens going off... to no avail. Not one person had noticed the two had left—or, more importantly, the absence of the emerald necklace. Proudly, Sonic unwrapped his arm from around the bat's side and gave her a bow for his performance. "Well, good-looking, I've got to hand it to you – you really proved me wrong," Rouge said with a satisfied smile, as she proceeded put the emerald necklace on, to the hedgehog's confusion.

Gazing back up at her, he saw that she had in fact begun to leave the gift shop entirely. "... So," Sonic began, as the distance between the two grew further, "now we put it back, right?" Rouge walked along the sidewalk, adorned with the emerald necklace, and proceeded to completely ignore Sonic's nervous words. Sonic's face fell when he realized what had just happened. "Ohh... You're killin' me, Rouge..." he sighed, with a tired smile.


End file.
